Phonograph-horn.



A. T. E. WANGJaMANN.

PHONOGRAPH HORN.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.3, 1905.' y v Patented Mar. 2, 1909.

l2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

- Inventor:

JUS #mw 7,6m fama/pa www Atty.

A. T. E. WANGEMANN@ PHONOGBAPH HORN. PPLIoAToN FILED' AUG. 3, 1905.

UNITED ASTATES PATENT OFFICE. ADELBERT THEO. EDWARD WANGENIANN, OF WEVS'l.` O-RANGEpNEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO NEW' JERSEY PATENT COMPANY, OF WEST ORANGE, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF N JERSEY.

rHoNoenAPH-nonn.

Patented March 2, 1909.

Application filed August 3, 1905. Serial No. 272,@72. I

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, ADELBERT Tirso. E. WANGEMANN, a citizen of the United States, residing at West Orange, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invent- 'ed certain new and useful Improvements in Phonograph-Horns, of which the following is a description.

In the reproduction of sounds by means of the Edison phonograph and other talking machines, it is well known that in order to obtain sounds having-much volume and a I Y sufficient'proportion of overtones to produce others will travel and be reflected so often character.

'and `overtones t an horns .a pleasing uality, it is necessary to use an amplifying orn or' trumpet. It has been found, however, that it is not possible to obtain from any horn sounds having absolutely correct proportions of tones and overtones, the best horns reducing merely an approximation to the es ired result.

`The present invention has for its object the production of a horn for use with phonographs and similar instruments which will produce a more eri'ect combination of tones reviously made, so that when used for recor ing purposes, the elevations and depressions .constituting the sound record will corres ond more accurately to the actual tones an overtones given outsound waves produced ata given time should reach the ear at the same instant. If, for

example, a person is listening to a speaker or.

singer in a large hall, the waves will, of course, travel directly to the listener, 'butu there will also be a reflection ofsound waves from the 4walls of the room which reach thelistener somewhat later and a few of these reflections will reach the listener, in ample time toA augment the directly" received sound wave`- and be in consequence so weakened that their influence on'the spoken Word or the tones of music are nullified. plus he direct wave give to every such room orAspace its own tone of resonance ofpeculiar Now in the case of phonographic reproduction, my belief is that thel re r0- ducer diaphragm sets up in the sound ox waves travelingr in almost every direction, so

The relected waves`- that two princi al classes of waves issue therefrom into t e resonating horn, namely those which travel in a direction parallel or slightly inclined to the axis Aof the horn, and which may be called direct Waves and those whose direction 'of travel is considerably in' -clined to said axis, and which I refer to term cross vibrations. since the path of travel ofthe cross vibration is longer than that of the direct vibrations,

It is obvious that.

they will reach the listener later than lthe dip rect andI thereby produce an unpleasant effect of rumbling sound', they will cover up and destroy and-counteract a number of the The horns illustrated arethe `result oi u many' years of experimentatien.L I have constructed and tested vast numbers of horns as applied to phonographs, and I find that the quality a straig t line, that is, one whose'axis is a broken line. 'In a horn suchas this, reiiection of the sound waves takes place, caused by the walls of thehorn. Such reflection ofvtones producedis most j nearly erfect in a horn Whose axls isnot tends to eliminate cross vibrations, or to convertthem into direct waves as clearl shown in Figs. 3, 4 and 5, wherein the full lines representapproximately the paths of direct waves, and the dottedlines the paths ofcross vibrations, and it is observed that the waves enteringl each section as cross,

vibrations are in each case converted into direct waves. The sections e,f, g and 7L of Fig. 3 are cylinders, asl are also the sections i, j, k, Z and fm, of Fig. 4. `lullig. 5 the sections 24, 25, 26 and. 27 are cones. These figures do not re resent complete horns. Figs'. 3 and 4 may lie used to replace section a, of the horn of Fig. -1 or sections b, c and d of Fig. 2. Fig. 5 may replace'l and c of Fig. 1, or 20, b, c and d of ,2. `.It may also be 'increase in diameter.

that the reilection caused by the walls of the horns shown, causes more or less separation ofthe tones and overtones, so that each class of sound vibrationsniay affect its own portion of the wall of thev horn, throwing it into vibration and producing resonance without interference from other tones.

l have also found that the quality of tones produced by a hornceniposcd of sections, the elements of whose inner surface are straight lines (i. c.--cones or cylinders) rigidly secured together and so arranged that anglesoc'cur at the joints of adjacent sections, is superior to those produced. by a horn of curved form wherein no such angles exist. The reason for this may possibly be that the lioints act as transverse stilfening rings which increase the rigidity of the horn,

or because ythis construction permits the sec tions to vibrate independently and without interference from adjacent sections, or because it is better for eliminating cross vibrations. In the horn illustrated in Fig. l it will be observed that there are i8 distinct angles in the walls of the horn.

l have also discovered that the quality of tones may be improved by the insertion oi' sections which do not taper, that is, cylin ders. Thus in Fig. l, the horn is built up of the conical sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 1e, 17, 1s and 19. Between the sections l and 2 is a cylindrical section a. The horn from which the drawing was made is very large. The circnmference of the large end thereof is 111 feet, 10:1.- inc'nes, but l do not consider my invention limited to horns of any particular size.

ln Fig. 2 the sections 2), 2l, 22 and 28 are conical and the sections b, c and d are cylindrical. ln. this ligure I have illustrated by dotted lines ,various forms oi horn all of which utilize the' principles of my invention.

i have discovered, furthermore, that it is desirable to increase the degree ot' taper of the walls of the successive sections as they rThat is to-say, the amount 'oi inclination of the walls of the horn with respect to its axis should increase from the small end of the horn to the-large, thereby producing a iaring shape. In case thetaper docs not increase thc tones are apt to be somewhat muliled. rThe cylindrical sections are preferably located near the snnill end of the horn but may be located at any portieri of its length. Y

ln constructing thc horns, the small end of each conical section is yfitted into the end'of its adjacent section `(whet'rier cylindrical), and considerable pressure ap- Ilfed, in which condition the sections are soldered together, so thatv the walls of the conical or.

finished horn are extremely rigid, yet capable of local vibration. The material 'used is preferably sheet n1etal, although other materials may be used, however, il desired. Having now described my invention,

what l claim as new and desire to secure by' Letters Patent is as follows: t

1. As a new article of manufacture, a horn for phonographs and other talking machines, comprising a series of conical sections lrigidly secured together, the sections being of progressively increasing diameter and taper, substantially as set forth.

2. As a new article of manufacture, a horn for phonographs and other talking machines comprising a series of conical sections rigidly secured together, the sections being of progressively increasing diameter and taper and being so arranged that their axes form a broken line,'substantially as forth.

3. As a new article of manufacture, a horn for phonographs and other talking machines, comprising a series o' tubular tapering sections of progressively increasing diameter and taper, and a tubular nontapering section interposed betweentwo of said tapering sections, substantially as set forth.

4. As a new article of manufacture, a horn for phonographs and other talking machines, comprising a series of tubular tapering sections of progressively increasing diameter and taper, and a plurality of tubular non-tapering sections interposed in said series of tapering sections, substan-- tially as set forth. -1

5. As a new article of manufacture, a horn for phonographs and other talking machines, comiirising a number of tubular tapering sections of progressively increasing taper and diameter from the small end toward the large end of the horn, and a plurality of tubular non-tapering sections interposed between tapering sections, the axes of all said sections being arranged at angles to each other, substantially as set forth.

(i. As a new article of manufacture, a horn for phonegraphs a n d other talking macl'iincs, comprising` a series of conical and cylindrical sections rigidly sccurcd'togcther, the conical sections being of progressively increasing diameter and taper, substantially l.as-set forth.

This specication signed and witnessed this lst/:day of Augustl905.

' .Vitnesses: I

DELos Henman', FRANK L. Dyna. 

